The executive's property, designed by mid-century architect Hal Levitt, is located in the Trousdale Estates neighborhood, which is seeing high-profile, multi-million dollar sales.

Randy Phillips' Beverly Hills residence

December 10, 2011Bryan W. Logan

AEG Live CEO Randy Phillips has sold his Hal Levitt-designed house for $15.5 million in the Trousdale Estates neighborhood of Beverly Hills, according to Blockshopper Los Angeles. The sale is triple what he paid for it: a reported $4.63 million in 2004.

Built in 1966, the showy example of mid-century modernism has four bedrooms and four baths with a digital screening room, indoor/outdoor fireplaces, pool, and built-in barbecue pit. The 7,265-square-foot architectural gem sits on 28,481 square feet of mature landscape.

Phillips -- who oversees the live entertainment arm of AEG, which he joined in 2002 after a career managing such acts as Rod Stewart and Prince -- struck the deal with an as-yet-unknown buyer, who purchased through an LLC. The AEG exec, who is also a collector of modern furniture, could not be reached for comment. The listing agent was Ben Bacal of Keller Williams.

The house sold by Phillips has a Hollywood pedigree as well as an architectural one. It once was owned by life partners Ross Hunter, a producer of such films as Imitation of Life, Pillow Talk and Airport (for which he was nominated for an Oscar), and Jacques Mapes, a set decorator and producer.

Despite a down market, the Trousdale neighborhood is gaining attention for some high-profile sales

Once populated by a cadre of Hollywood luminaries, including Warren Beatty, Irving “Swifty” Lazar and Elvis Presley, the area has been rediscovered in recent years by buyers drawn to its collection of architecturally significant mid-century houses — that don’t skimp on square footage.

Jennifer Aniston recently made a big flip of a Hal Levitt house in Trousdale. Some real estate observers scoffed when she put the house on the market with an asking price of $42 million. She bought it for just $13.5 million in 2006. After years of meticulous renovations with designer Stephen Shadley (who also designed several homes for Diane Keaton) and just four months on the market, the mansion sold in June, for not much less than asking: $35 million.

Levitt’s designs are widely appreciated, and especially in this storied neighborhood. In his book, Over the Top, which chronicles the history of Trousdale Estates architecture, Steven Price says, "I mention Hal's work a lot – I'm his biggest fan – and Trousdale has the greatest concentration of his best houses."

In August, fashion designer Vera Wang reportedly laid down $9.2 million on a 4,394-square-foot mid-century modern. The 1967-built house, once owned by Burt Reynolds, underwent a three-year redesign under the watchful eye of celeb-designer, Steven Hermann. Hermann snagged it for a tidy $5 million in 2008.